Days 11-14

Hello!

Well tonight is our final night in the Regents apartments before we take off bright and early in the morning for Bristol and Stratford for the week to see Stonehenge, the Roman Baths, Shakespeare's birthplace, Ann Hathaway's cottage, and other attractions. I am looking forward to getting out of the city for awhile -- it will be a nice change of pace.

Anyway, I will fill you in on what we have been doing the last few days! On Friday we saw Fela, preceded by a platform discussion beforehand with 3 people who knew Fela personally and gave us a fuller picture of him than the show could. The show was unbelievable and so filled with energy and enthusiasm. I saw it in New York last summer, and liked this production even more. The actor who played Fela was the same as the one in NY, but the Olivier theatre is capable of much more cool technical stuff than the Broadway theatre was. It is just such an original show, and it was a blast.

On Saturday we had class in the morning and then took a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was fun. We climbed all the way to the top, up very narrow, spiraling staircases, but it was worth it. You can basically see all of London from there. I will be putting pictures on Facebook. Saturday night was pick your own play night, and Ben and I went to see Woman In Black, a horror show that has been playing for over 20 years. We both agreed that the acting was excellent, but the story line was not too engaging. There were some scary parts, but I'm amazed that it has had such a long run. Anyway, it was fun.

Yesterday we had a day completely to ourselves, which was really nice. We all slept in (this was the first day we have been able to do that since we got here), and then went to Regents for lunch before heading to the Camden Markets to walk around and shop. There are SO many stands and shops there it is kind of overwhelming, but it is a really nice area to walk around and look at things, and it was fun to hang out. Then we came back and had all had a pizza party together, which was lots of fun.

Today we had class in the morning and then went for a tour of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre (pictured with this post). We had a fantastic tour guide, and it walking around made me really want to see a play there. After that we came back to the apartments, and tonight lots of us are doing laundry, packing, and getting ready to leave tomorrow. We are only seeing one show this week -- Matilda the Musical on Thursday. It has gotten rave reviews, and we are all pretty excited.

I don't know how much I'll be able to get on the internet this week, but I will try to make another post soon. Next weekend is our free weekend, and I know that the hostel we are staying at has WiFi, so I will certainly post from there. We are more than halfway to the end. Time goes too fast!

Cheers!